Ms Olive Dushime

AIMS Sénégal 2012Providing implementable solutions to food security

After graduating from AIMS Sénégal, Ms Olive Dushime joined the Millennium Villages Project in Mayange, Rwanda, as a the Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator where she provides technical support to ensure that the project is contributing to the expected impact in terms of the MGDs and SDGs.

In addition, she started a small factory that produces breakfast food supplement from maize, one of the main crops in the country. The project’s goal is to provide implementable solutions to food security in the country. It has been awarded a grant for Best Innovative Project from the Rwanda Innovation Endowment Fund – 2014.

“AIMS gave me the skills which act as the foundation on which my career is built.”

Food security, a complex issue that links to almost all other aspects of life such as health and sustainable economic development among others, is a major challenge to Africa. Rwanda specifically experiences the problem of food security despite a remarkable socio-economic recovery following the 1994 genocide that led to the collapse of the economy, social services and civil society.

The most recent Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis (CFSVA) report (WFP, 2012) found that 51 percent of households were having difficulty in accessing food in the 12 months preceding the survey. It also revealed that the prevalence of chronic malnutrition among children under five years of age stood at 43%.

Exploiting alternatives such as technology and resources will close the food security shortfall and it is in this space where talented Africans such as Olive can contribute to reverse the trend. AIMS prepares students to conceptualise ideas and provide implementable solutions to problems facing the societies where they live and Olive is one such example.

“AIMS is the place where I have developed problem solving and analytical abilities. I also learnt the importance of team work and how to interact with people from diverse backgrounds and that was a great life experience for me.”